Inconceivable
by Daughter of Necessity
Summary: Some things just don't happen. Some things are not meant to be. And some things are simply inconceivable. Kakasaku. Three-shot. Rated T for some bad language.
1. Chapter 1: Distraction

Warning: This is written with Kakasaku in mind if you don't like the pairing then you can probably still read it but that was what I had in my head when writting it.

So, originally this was just a one-shot that popped into my head but then, of course, I wanted to write Sakura's version of things so then it was just going to be a two-shot and it still might be but I left the end of chapter 2 open so that if you like it I might write more.

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**Chapter 1: Distraction**

The woman leaned down and gave Kakashi a kiss on the partially masked cheek before waving cheerfuly and walking away. Jiraiya supposed she was pretty, on a normal day he probably wouldn't mind doing a little 'research' on her. But today was not a normal day, he and Naruto had returned to Konoha after several months of traveling to find that the ultimate bachelor and world-renowned Copy-nin Kakashi was going steady. With a civilian no less. He couldn't understand it. For as long as Jiraiya had known him Kakashi had never deemed any woman important enough to have anything more than a one-night stand with and now, here was with this largely unremarkable woman who he had been dating for a good two months. "Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked, once the woman was out of earshot.

"Hm?" Was his only reply as Kakashi stared after the woman, but Jiraiya could tell my the blank look in his eye the he wasn't really seeing the back of the retreating woman.

"You don't love her, do you?" It was caught halfway between a statement and a question and the answer didn't surprise Jiraiya in the least. He had only seen them interact once and then for only a short while but he could still tell. You can always tell.

"No, I don't." He replied still staring at nothing.

"So, why do you stay with her?" Kakashi was silent for a long time. Finally, he turned until he was facing forward on the park bench but still his dark gaze was not seeing the beautiful autumn foliage before him.

"Because she's a welcome distraction." Jiraiya frowned at this unenlightening answer.

"A distraction from what?" The way Kakashi's hands clenched into fists on his legs did not go unnoticed. Neither man spoke for so long that Jiraiya was sure he wasn't going to reply at all when Kakashi suddenly shook his head.

"I can't. I can't tell you, because that would mean saying it out loud, and I can't do _that_ because that would take it out of the realm of daydreams and ridiculous notions and... make it into a real hope. And I can't let that happen." It was very rare to seen him anything but nonchalant now he seemed almost... rattled.

"Why not?"

"Because just acknowledging that it has even a sliver of a chance of happening, ever, would make it hurt that much more that it never will. That I'll never let it."

"Never let _what_, Kakashi? _What_ will never happen?" Jiraiya pushed, but he thought he might understand now what his friend was talking about.

"No. I can't. I'm not prepared to deal with it as a real possibility, no matter how remote." His voice had become harsh and intense leaving no room for farther exploration on the subject.

"You love her don't you?" Jiraiya hadn't realized how tense Kakashi had gotten until he relaxed and leaned back until he was looking up into the sky, his eye even crinkled in what Jiraiya imagined was a sardonic smile.

"I thought we already established that I definitely do not love her." Jiraiya scoffed and waved his had dismissively in the direction that she had left in.

"Not _her_." (What was her name again? He had already forgotten.) Again Kakashi stiffened slowly sitting up straight and staring directly into Jiraiya's eyes for the first time during their entire conversation. His gaze was earnest and Jiraiya could almost feel his sharingan boring into him through his headband.

"I don't know who your talking about." He said in a way that left no doubt in Jiraiya's mind that he most certainly _did_ know who he was referring to.

"Do you really think you can last like this forever? Even you have your limits?" Kakashi's eye wrinkled in a bitter smile.

"Why do you think I need a distraction?"

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Ok so tell me what you think. I'll upload the second half very soon and after that we'll see.

Oh, and I almost forgot. None of the characters are mine, they all belong to their respective copyright holders (except for the nameless girlfriend #1, she's mine).


	2. Chapter 2: Mr Perfect

Second half of this two-shot. Basically it's Sakura's version of the first chapter but hopefully it's different enough to still be interesting.

Disclaimer: If I _did_ own Naruto then I wouldn't have to write fanfiction now would I.

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**Chapter 2: Mr. Perfect**

"Sakura? You don't really love him do you?" Ino asked. Her friend had told her the news this morning and was now helping around the shop. Sakura looked up from her failed attempt at flower arranging to give Ino a small, knowing, smile.

"No. I haven't for many years now." Ino took her friend's hands in her own staring desperately into Sakura's eyes, fearing that her ex-rival was making a terrible mistake.

"So why, Sakura? Why did you agree to marry him. You know as well as I do that he doesn't love you." Again she smiled this a little sadly.

"You're right. He doesn't love me. Sasuke doesn't love anyone anymore. Not since he came back. Well, maybe Naruto. I think he may have lost his mind if it wasn't for his friendship with that idiot." She smiled fondly, Naruto was busy, constantly training with Jiraiya to further his quest to become Hokage and Ino knew that Sakura missed him terribly. "But no, he does not love me. And Ino? I'm ok with that. For so long I looked to Sasuke for my happy ending, but I see now: some people just don't get 'happily ever after'. So what if I don't have a loving husband? I still have my work at the hospital, my missions and my friends. Don't you see? I'm lucky to even be alive, with all I've been through. I'm not going to wait around for the perfect man." Now her smile slowly fell and she didn't seem to be looking at Ino anymore, instead her eyes were glassy and remote. "Because he's not coming."

"Sakura. We're not talking about some hypothetical 'perfect man' are we?" Ino asked, you couldn't be on the same team with Shikamaru for as long as she had without even a little of his genius rubbing off. Sakura snapped out of whatever little trance she had gone into and went back to her pitiful bouquet.

"No." She said quietly, looking at the flowers. "Not hypothetical." Mentally Ino rifled through all the men Sakura knew. None of them were what she would call _perfect_. Naruto was annoying as hell, and anyway they were like siblings. Obviously it wasn't Sasuke. Neji was to cold and emotionally distant, although Tenten didn't seem to mind. Lee was the opposite, that boy had mood swings as big as any girl's. Kiba was more attached to Akamaru than he could ever be to a girlfriend. Shino was... well frankly Shino was a weirdo. Shikamaru was lazy and a total know-it-all, plus he had been dating Temari for years. Choji was, Kami bless him, he was a total girl when you got to know him (his favorite color was baby blue for goodness sake). Gaara was still a little weird even if he didn't go around killing people for fun anymore. And Kankuro's closest friends were puppets, can you get any weirder? That covered everyone who was not 1)old, 2)evil, or 3)really young. Or any combination of the three.

"So? Who is it?" Ino asked, firmly shoving away the idea that this would make great gossip. Sakura looked up and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Does it matter?" Ino's mouth dropped open.

"Are kidding? Of _course_ it _matters_! It-"

"Is never going to happen." Sakura interrupted firmly. Ino sincerely doubted that because, as much as she hated to admit it, Sakura had grown into quite a beauty, even if her forehead was still too wide in Ino's opinion. If she wanted to, and stopped wearing clothes that belonged on nuns, then she could have every guy in town drooling over her.

"Why is that?" She asked, not bothering to hide the skepticism in her voice. With a sigh Sakura rested her head on her hand and looked at the other woman.

"It's complicated." At this, Ino gave a most unladylike snort.

"Hey, Forehead, relationships are complicated by nature. There is no such thing as a 'simple relationship', and if anyone tells you different they're _lying_." For good measure she flicked Sakura in the aforementioned forehead. Sakura merely brushed her hand away.

"Look, Ino, its already been decided. I'm going to marry Sasuke and that's that. I'm sorry I even said anything about it. So please just... drop it, just forget everything I said about Mr. Perfect." Ino didn't want to force Sakura into talking about something she obviously wanted to ignore but she just had to ask.

"You're sure you're not making a mistake?" Sakura smiled, obviously relieved that she had given up so easily.

"Yes, I'm sure." And with that Sakura went back to trimming and cutting her little bunch of flowers. And Ino smiled rather sinisterly to herself. Sakura should have known better: Ino _never_ gives up.

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The End... Maybe. That's up to you to decide. So please review and tell me what you think. Also, don't be afraid to tell me what I've done wrong or what should be fixed, I am always trying to improve and I need your help to do it.


	3. Chapter 3: The Usual

Wow, I had totally no idea what to do on this chapter and I actually thought that it would probably stay a two-shot but suddenly without any warning inspiration struck so here is the third and last chapter. I wrote and edited this about an hour if that so I really need you help to catch the mistakes that I'm sure are in there. Also this is the first real ending I've written (usually I loose interest about halfway through and never even open it again) so I want your feed back.

Disclaimer: The plot of this and many other stories existing on paper, in a computer or in my head are totally mine. The characters and setting belong to whoever they belong to (which is not me).

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**Chapter 3: The Usual**

It was a wednesday. It was the middle of autumn and Sakura had no missions, only the normal shifts at the hospital. It was one of those days that were only special in the utter normalcy of them, ninja rarely experienced days such as these. One of those days that had no real hold in your memories. But Sakura would remember it for the rest of her life. She had just finished her sift at the hospital and was going home, completely absorbed in the medical file of a particularly tricky patient.

"Is it true?" Sakura jump backwards, hand automatically going for the kunai pouch that she wasn't wearing. But when she saw who it was she immediately relaxed, although her heart continued its frantic pace. She swallowed.

"God Kakashi, don't sneak up on me like that." Kakashi was one of the few people alive who was capable of that particular feat. "And is 'what' true?" She asked, but as she looked up into his searing gaze she already knew what he was referring to. Good thing too because Kakashi said nothing. She sighed wearily and looked down. She wasn't sure if she could handle this right now. Or ever, if she was being totally honest. "Yes, it's true."

"Why, Sakura? Don't try and tell me you still love him?" She gave a halfhearted snort at that.

"No, I won't. You know I never liked to lie to you." He didn't take the bait.

"So why? What on earth possessed you to _marry_ him?" He said 'marry' as if it left a particularly bad taste in his mouth. Her lips tugged up at the corners but she wasn't really smiling. She sat back on the stone bannister that lead up to the hospital's doors.

"I'm not getting any younger, Kakashi. I'm already 23 and ninja rarely live over 30, even the medics. And anyway: I always did want to have children."

"But why him? After everything you two have been through? Why would you choose to marry him?" His gaze was fierce and penetrating. She smiled sardonically.

"'Cause he asked." She said trying to lift some of the tension, but it seemed to work the opposite way. His eye darkened and his face grew hard.

"So you would have just said yes to anyone who asked you?" He said, not trying to keep the fury out of his voice. She sighed again. She understood why he was angry: he had always thought of her like a daughter and although both her and Naruto had welcomed Sasuke back to the village with open arms, Kakashi had never quite forgiven him of betraying the village and worse still, in his opinion, betraying his friends. He didn't think the Uchiha deserved her, and although in different circumstances she might have found that flattering, she knew that she had to end this conversation before it entered dangerous territory.

"Look, I understand that you're just looking out for me but I can make my own decisions. And I'd like to you to respect that." She jumped down from the rock and started to walk away.

"Will he make you happy?" His voice was barely over a whisper but she heard and she knew she was meant to. She closed her eyes and bit her lip that had began to tremble slightly before turning around again to face the only person in the world that would make her truly happy.

"Come now, Kakashi, a happy ninja? How many of those do you know?" She gave him a fake smile.

"Exactly!" He said, stepping forward. His voice was harsh and she could swear that she could feel his sharingan one her even through his headband. "Our jobs confront us with horrors every day, Sakura. Coming home after a mission should be a relief not yet another duty. Your husband should make you _happy_." She kept her smile firmly in place although it was hard. Her eyes prickled at the thought that _he_, was the one she wanted to come home to.

"And who would be able to do that? You?" She couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Maybe." He seemed to say it without thinking, his voice held the same half bitter tone, and once it left his lips his eye went wide in shock, but Sakura didn't notice, she was to busy fighting back tears.

"Don't play with me, Kakashi." She said and her voice was wet and strangled. His eye flicked up from its horrified contemplation of the ground to stare at her with a mixture of hope and disbelief.

"And what if I wasn't playing?" His voice was small and cautious. A single tear escaped her eye before she squeezed them shut. Damn her emotions. She had spent years training under the Hokage, becoming one of the strongest kunoichi in the country and yet still her emotions got the better of her. Not as often as they used to, it's true, but now, when it counted, when she had sworn to herself that she would never show Kakashi that this 'little girl' who was 14 years his junior and young enough to be his student, cared for him much more than as a friend or a daughter, now her emotion betrayed her. She would _not_ cry. She had done enough crying over unrequited love when Sasuke left and she refused to be reduced to a sniveling 13-year-old. _How dare he fuck with me like this,_ she thought. She grasped at that anger and used it to burn away the tears in her eyes. _What right does he have to insinuate that he would __ever_marry_ me, just to get me not to marry Sasuke_.

"Don't do that." She whispered and her words were savage with anger. "Don't say things like that, don't _pretend_ to feel something for me just because you think I made the wrong decision with Sasuke. You don't have the right to decide who I do or do not marry, Kakashi, because you might be my teammate, my friend and my mentor..." She was getting choked up again, dammit. She words were becoming thick and teardrops were balancing precariously on her eyelids. "...but it will _never_ be enough." And she whipped around and damn near ran down the street with traitorous tears sliding down her cheeks. But she didn't get far. A small puff of grey smoke was the only warning she got. Suddenly his hands were on her shoulders and his eye bore into hers.

"You were never just a student. Never just a teammate." He said, and his voice cracked with emotion. "And _never_ just a friend." And with that his cloth covered lips slammed against hers. And her already muddled mind was clouded with confusion, disbelief, happiness and hope. She couldn't take it, it was too much, and slowly her knees gave out and she slid to the ground with Kakashi right beside her.

It was a inexplicable sight: two of the Leaf's most powerful nins collapsed in the dirt with tears running down their faces. What was capable of breaking two who are so strong? Indeed the very thought was simply

inconceivable.

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Ok. For me that was really fluffy and I'm not sure how it came out. That is the last chapter but please still review. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Necessity


	4. Epilogue: Freedom

I didn't plan on writing this epilogue but when I came home today to find so many amazing reviews I knew I just had to write this little chapter just to clean up some loose ends.

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**Epilogue: Freedom**

Sasuke looked evenly at Sakura over the tops of his clasped hands. He was leaned forward on his desk, his chin supported by his thumbs, looking at the disheveled kunoichi. She had felt the need to run here straight from training with the Hokage, as soon she had heard that he had returned from his mission, just to tell him _this_?

"What do expect me to say, Sakura? Are you asking for my blessing?" He said calmly. She looked down and blushed slightly.

"I don't expect anything from you Sasuke. And," She looked up her eyes suddenly filled with the fierce determination that he had always admired in her. "I'm not asking, I telling." He said nothing and merely stared at her for a moment. She sighed and deflated slightly. "Look, I'm sorry it had to happen this way but this was an engagement of convenience and we both know it. I don't understand why you're getting mad at me." Inwardly he smiled at the fact that she could tell he was angry even though he showed no outward signs. _Oh well_, he thought, _no reason not to now_.

"I'm not mad at you, Sakura, only at the circumstances: who would have thought that after so long being dense both of you would clue in at the most inopportune moment." He swear he heard her jaw pop as it fell open.

"You _knew_?" She gasped. He gave her a perfectly crafted 'Are you a complete idiot?' look.

"Both of you think your so sly." He rolled his eyes. "Every ninja in the village knows your feelings for each other. Well, except maybe the dobe." He added with a smirk, he had never dropped the childish insult but it had slowly morphed into a friendly endearment. Her eyes widened in horror and her face turned a bright red color that clashed horribly with her hair.

"But you asked me to _marry_ you, when you knew I loved Kakashi?" She asked incredulously. He shrugged.

"The way things had been going neither of you would ever admit to any feelings for the other. So I thought I might as well take advantage of your seemingly permanent state of denial and marry you myself." He said it matter-of-factly.

"So you're not at angry at me?" She asked cautiously. He shook his head.

"No, although I am rather annoyed that the universe has decided to fuck with me yet again." Her face twisted into a wry smile at that, but she grew serious again.

"And the engagement is off?" He snorted.

"Do I have any choice in the matter? I thought you were telling, not asking." He said with another smirk, but before she could reply he held up his hand. "Don't. The engagement is dissolved, now go celebrate with Kakashi, he's waiting for you." He said with a scowl at the door. She smiled radiantly and ran forward to kiss him lightly on the cheek and thank him for being such a good friend before following his gaze out of the room. As she left he sighed and leaned back in his chair, scowl deepening. Still, he couldn't quite bring himself to regret the events that took place in his absence. After all, that was the first real smile she had given anyone in years.

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Sakura closed the door quietly behind her and turned to Kakashi. She had met him on her mad dash through town and he had come with her for moral support, sitting right outside the door through the entire exchange.

"I suppose you listened to all of that?" She asked, still smiling. He shrugged noncommittally but the happiness shining in his eye gave him away. Without thinking she threw herself into his arms and he instantly returned the tight embrace. She squeezed with all her un-chakra-enhanced might, breathing in the smell of pine needles and rain. They had barely touched each other in the four days since the pivitol moment at the hospital, both of them agreeing that it wasn't fair to Sasuke to do so much as hold hands while Sakura was still technically engaged to him. But now they reveled in the simple feeling of holding each other close. They stayed that way for a long time until Sakura pulled away just enough to look him in the eye. She smiled so wide her cheeks ached but she didn't care. "Kakashi. It's over. All the waiting and agonizing, it's all over." And he knew she didn't mean just the past few days. He nodded, and gave her a crooked grin.

"We're finally free," He said. "To do whatever we want."

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When Sakura told Ino all she got for a long moment was a blank look. Then in a second she was rolling on the floor laughing, tears streaming down her face, cackling something about 'perfect.' Still, Sakura couldn't help but smile. She had been doing a lot of that recently.

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When Kakashi told Jiraiya he merely smiled and made a lewd comment for which he received a solid smack to the back of the head. The Sannin just grinned and after awhile he asked after Kakashi's girlfriend (what was her name again?) and Kakashi had replied that the first thing he had done after his confession at the hospital was break up with her.

Jiraiya asked for her number.

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I'm a little worried about how Sasuke turned out but overall I'm really happy with this chapter and this story. And I'd like to thank anyone who put this on their alert list, favorited, or reviewed you guys rock.

It really is the end this time. I swear. Really, it is!

Necessity


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